SAN FRANCISCO Cheap Medhi Benatia Jersey , Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- A new study led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine indicates that profiling the genes of lung-tumor cells from patient blood samples may be a cheap, noninvasive way to help doctors choose the right treatments.

The researchers created a system for isolating circulating tumor cells from the blood of cancer patients and reading a handful of genes from inside each tumor cell, enabling them to obtain genetic information about the original cancer tumor that resides deep in the lungs without doing a biopsy, which can be dangerous for the patient.

It is common for cancer therapies to fail after a few months, often because the cancer evolves resistance to the treatment. At that point, "without a biopsy and genetic profiling Cheap Mattia De Sciglio Jersey , we are flying blind, trying to select a second or third option for therapy and hoping it works," said radiology instructor Seung-min Park, a lead author of the study published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. But repeated lung biopsies are too hard on patients.

Finding a way to look at circulating tumor cells, or CTCs, in the blood has been a goal of oncologists for years. When people die of cancer Cheap Marko Pjaca Jersey , it is usually from metastasis, the spread of tumors throughout the body. Part of metastasis is the entry of tumor cells into the bloodstream, where they circulate along with normal blood cells, eventually landing in other organs and initiating tumors there.

"This work fits well into our bigger vision of using blood-based diagnostics to detect and manage disease, including cancer," said Sanjiv "Sam" Gambhir Cheap Mario Mandzukic Jersey , professor and chair of radiology. "By being able to characterize single CTCs, we believe cancer management, including predicting response to therapy, will be much better optimized."

The blood typically contains very few CTCs, so one of the challenges has been to separate them from ordinary blood cells. The new technique involves taking blood from lung cancer patients and then attaching antibodies to circulating tumor cells. Once the cancer cells are labeled, the team introduces magnetic nanoparticles designed to attach to the antibodies labeling the cancer cells.

With each individual cancer cell labeled with a magnetic nanoparticle Cheap Mario Lemina Jersey , the researchers can then use a device called a magnetic sifter, or MagSifter, previously developed by Shan Wang, Stanford professor of materials science and engineering and of electrical engineering.

When the MagSifter is on, it pulls the nanoparticle-labeled CTCs from the blood sample and allows the rest of the blood to flow through the sifter. The CTCs pulled from the blood are then deposited into a flat array of tiny wells, each large enough for only one cell. Now the tumor cells are ready for genetic analysis.

In principle Cheap Leonardo Bonucci Jersey , the technique should work just as well with other kinds of cancers, said former Stanford graduate students Dawson Wong. "We validated our device on lung cancer because of the difficulties of doing lung biopsies," he was quoted as saying in a news release. "But the technology is not limited to profiling lung cancer. We could swap out markers and adapt the technique to other types of cancers."

The approach could be used to look at mutations in three or four genes, and it requires no more than 2 milliliters of blood, or about half a teaspoon. The test can be completed in about five hours, the researcher said Cheap Kwadwo Asamoah Jersey , and costs less than 30 U.S. dollars.

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors reacts after hitting a three-point shot against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

The Golden State Warriors registered the best start in NBA history with their 16th straight victory in a blowout win over the visiting Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night at Oracle Arena in Oakland.

The outcome of the game was never really in doubt after the Warriors raced out to a 19-point lead at the end of the first quarter, ultimately cruising to a 111-77 win.

The Warriors' historic win broke the previous record of 15-0 starts held by the 1948-49 Washington Capitols and 1993-94 Houston Rockets.

Warriors point guard and reigning league MVP Stephen Curry led all scorers with 24 points in just 30 minutes of play. With the game in hand, Curry sat out the entire fourth quarter.

The Warriors will now seek to match the record for consecutive victories during an NBA regular season, which is 33 games, set by the 1972 -Lakers.

"They're in the history books," Warriors interim coach Luke Walton said of his team after the win. "But we also reminded them that it's November."

Walton said he does not think the Warriors will reach the 33-win mark now because the team will soon -embark on a long road trip Cheap Juan Cuadrado Jersey , which will include games against Toronto, Indiana and Boston.

"I don't see that happening with the upcoming schedule we have," said Walton, who is filling in for injured Golden State coach Steve Kerr. "Eventually we will lose."

Walton praised the performance of forward Draymond Green, who he said had been the best player on the floor Tuesday night. Green, who stuffed the stat sheet with 18 points Cheap Gonzalo Higuain Jersey , seven -rebounds and five assists, tried to keep the team's achievement in -perspective after the game.

"At the end of the day it's 16 wins in the month of November," Green said.

Though the team downplayed the significance of the milestone, Curry said the victories never get old for the defending NBA champions.

"We are genuinely addicted to the feeling of winning," said Curry.

With the loss, the hapless Lakers move to 2-12. Starting forward Kobe Bryant was held to just four points on 14 shot attempts as the Lakers shot a meager 37.8 percent from the field.